Face the State Flashback: the Banking Crisis of the Early ’90s

Two decades ago our state was mired in a banking crisis that was one of the worst in the nation. From 1990-1992 dozens of banks in our state were either closed or put into receivership, jeopardizing millions of dollars in savings. People were justifiably concerned, and many pulled their money out of banks. Others, who invested in banks, were out thousands of dollars.

In our Face the State flashback this Sunday, we took you back to January 1991, when one of our state’s better known banks, the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company, was seized by the FDIC. Our report that day was filed by Jim Vicevich, who now hosts Sound off Connecticut, on WTIC AM 1080.

Jim was called the “Money Man” on Eyewitness News, and for good reason. He was widely regarded in the industry as thee expert on these bank closings, being able to effortlessly take a complex issue and boil it down to an easy to understand story for the evening news.

Denise was telling me when Jim walked into a bank in those days, employees became instantly worried that the source of their paychecks was about to close; that Jim knew something they didn’t. To them, “Money Man” meant “Grim Reaper.”